Tag Archives: cure to cancer

What if the cure for cancer has been living in your garden all this time and you have been trying to get rid of it because it is an annoying weed?

I cannot assure you that the answer lies in today’s Friday Fellow, but it certainly has a good potential. Its name is Bidens pilosa, commonly known as beggar’s tick, beggar ticks, black jack, cobbler’s pegs or Spanish needle.

Not extravagant, but discrete. This is Bidens pilosa. Photo by Wibowo Djatmiko.*

Native from the Americas, where it grows in open fields and forest glades, the beggar’s tick is now found worldwide, from Eurasia and Africa to Australia and the Pacific Islands. At first it does not call much attention while growing among other weeds. It grows up to 1.8 m tall and has small discrete flowers in a daisy-like head, with a handful of white ray florets and a small disc of yellow florets.

The problem with this fellow happens when you have to pass among them after the flowers have turned into fruits.

The terrible evil infructescence of the beggar’s tick. Photo by Wibowo Djatmiko.*

The fruits of the beggar’s tick are small, stiff, dry rods with about 2–4 small heavily barbed awns at the end. They are arranged in spherical infructescences are are eager to stick on any passing animal. The small barbed awns catch onto fur and clothes and the fruits are easily dispersed to other areas. It is a classical example of zoochory, i.e., seed dispersal by animals. If you live in an area where this plant is common, you most likely have had the experience of finding your clothes full of those prickling seeds, especially after playing, working or simply walking through a field.

But the beggar’s tick is much more than a dull and annoying weed. In Subsaharan Africa, it is one of the most widely eaten plants. Its leaves are edible when cooked, but have a strong and unpleasant taste.

Furthermore, the beggar’s tick is used in traditional medicine in South America and several studies have found out that it is indeed a powerful medicine. Extracts from the plant have shown several medicinal properties, including:

Antibacterial and antifungal activity

Antimalarial activity

Anti-herpes simplex activity

Ability to reduce tumoral and leukemic cells

Immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory effects

If this were not enough, the beggar’s tick has the ability to bioacumulate cadmium in its tissues, so that it can be used to depollute cadmium-contaminated soils.

The next time you find your clothes full of beggar’s ticks, remember that it is more, much more, than simply an annoying weed.